Tareq SalahiCrashes Photo withDONALD RUMSFELD

10/26/2012 4:00 AM PDT

Tareq Salahi Crashes Photo with DONALD RUMSFELD

EXCLUSIVE

HOW DOES HE DO IT??? Just three years after successfully crashing a White House state dinner, cuckolded "Real Housewives" star Tareq Salahi somehow posed in the same photo as legendary ex-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

The photo was snapped Wednesday at an event on Capitol Hill for Congressman Joe Walsh -- and Tareq tells TMZ, he was actually invited this time.

FYI -- Tareq is currently running for Governor of Virginia ... which probably explains what he's doing hobnobbing with DC's political elite.

Still ... no picture will ever rival Bill Clinton surrounded by porn stars.